Official City Flag

At the direction of the City Council, the City and Chamber sponsored a Wellington Flag Project to design a City flag that would serve as a symbol of the past, present and future of our community. City and Chamber staff researched the process used by a number of other Kansas cities for selecting and adopting an official City flag. The intended timeline was to have a City flag to coincide with the City’s Sesquicentennial Celebration for 2021.

The contest was opened for the submittal of design entries for the month of October 2020. A total of 49 entries were received. A 3 member volunteer citizen panel served as a review panel to eliminate any designs that did not adhere to the design principles and guidelines. After that elimination, 29 entries then proceeded to a public input period where the public could select up to 10 favorite designs. The top 10 selected designs were then provided to a 7 member volunteer citizen selection committee. The committee met for an initial review of the top 10 entries, studied the entries for a period of time and met again to further review and discuss. The committee selected a winning design from the top 10. A few comments from committee members about the design selected was that it was modern, showed movement, displayed school colors, and members expressed that the silver or grey color is unique for a flag. The winning flag project design was revealed during the Chamber’s 2021 Virtual Annual Celebration released on March 4. Shayna Templeton designed the winning entry. Shayna is a 2015 graduate of Wellington High School. She received a $500.00 cash prize for her winning design.

In Ms. Templeton's flag description, she says, "The flag design is symbolic of Wellington’s history. Agriculture, specifically the growing of wheat, has a long and important history in the area. Wellington is the county seat of Sumner County, and the area is known for the abundance of wheat grown every year. The wheat stalks represent the “Wheat Capital of the World”, the title Wellington and Sumner County has become known through the years. The wheat stalks are stylized to represent the railway that was important to Wellington in its early years. According to history, the first railway was a Santa Fe extension known as the “Cowley, Sumner, and Fort Smith Railway Company” and opened in 1879. The first locomotive reached Wellington on September 8, 1879. In 1888, “The Chicago, Kansas, and Nebraska Railroad” completed a line through Wellington. The first train reached Wellington on November 10, 1887. Both rail lines still exist in Wellington. A transcontinental line of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe passes through with Wellington as a crew switch point. A main north-south line of the Union Pacific Railroad runs through the city. There is also a line of the Southern Kansas and Oklahoma Railway entering Wellington from the south. The color scheme of red, silver, and white shows off Wellington school pride. An important history note is that Wellington was the first city to play a high school football game under permanently installed lights. The game was played on the night of September 20, 1929, with over 4,000 spectators witnessing Wellington battle Blackwell, Oklahoma. Football remains an important part of Wellington school pride as does all the activities and sports at Wellington High School." The flag colors used are: White, Red (Pantone 199C) and Cool Grey (Pantone 9C).

The official flag for the City of Wellington was adopted by the City Council via Resolution No. 6079 on March 16, 2021 and the design is now in the public domain and available for all to use. Official City Flag